Fox Sports

News Corp.'s Fox Sports Media Group has added to its growing portfolio of regional sports networks. On Friday, Fox Sports said it has acquired SportsTime Ohio, a Cleveland-based channel owned by Larry Dolan, who also owns the Indians baseball team. As part of the deal, Fox Sports has also signed a long-term agreement to carry Indians baseball. Terms for the sale were not disclosed but Sports Business Journal put the price tag in the $250 million range. Fox already has a strong presence in the Buckeye state with its Fox Sports Ohio channel, which has more than 5 million subscribers.

National Geographic Channels, a joint venture between 21st Century Fox and the National Geographic Society, is being overhauled. Out are Chief Executive David Lyle and President Howard Owens. In their place, veteran Fox executive David Hill has been named chairman and Courteney Monroe, chief marketing officer for National Geographic's U.S. network, has been promoted to chief executive. For Hill, this is his second stint as chairman of National Geographic Channels. He oversaw the partnership several years ago before turning the day-to-day job over to Lyle while keeping a seat on the board of directors.

U SC students and alumni weren't the only ones singing "Fight On" last Saturday. Fox executive Dan Shell was also screaming his lungs out at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the Trojans trounced Hawaii, 49-10, albeit for slightly different reasons. Shell is in charge of selling sponsorships for USC's athletic programs. But while Shell's title is vice president and general manager of USC Sports Properties, his checks come from Fox Sports . He is part of a new unit there that as of this year is handling sponsorship sales for USC Athletics.

Watchers of Rupert Murdoch's empire are busy scrutinizing the new roles of his children Lachlan and James in an attempt to determine which may be the front runner to eventually succeed the media mogul. But as far as the day-to-day operations of 21st Century Fox go, Chase Carey is still steering the ship. Described by Rupert Murdoch as his "partner and trusted advisor," Carey, 60, is in the process of negotiating a new contract with the company. Since returning to become Murdoch's top lieutenant in 2009 after a stint running DirecTV, Carey has spent much of his time increasing revenue streams for the 21st Century Fox television unit.

Musical sports highlights may become the next big thing online. AVbyte, a YouTube Channel headed by brothers Vijay and Antonius Nazareth, won a contest held by Fox Sports, YouTube and Ford to develop a new online show. The entry featured two sports anchors singing highlights. Musical numbers are what AVbyte specializes in on its channel . AVbyte will get a six-month development deal with Fox Sports and a promotional package across Fox Sports' media channels that is valued at $1 million.

In the latest sign of how valuable the media industry considers sports programming, News Corp. on Tuesday unveiled plans for Fox Sports 1, a new national cable channel it hopes will eventually challenge Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN empire. Scheduled to launch in mid-August in almost 90 million homes, the channel's initial lineup is to include NASCAR, college football and basketball, ultimate fighting and soccer. Next year, Fox Sports 1 is to add regular-season and postseason Major League Baseball to its lineup.

Fox Sports could pay at least $6 billion to retain the Dodgers' television rights, three parties familiar with the negotiations said Sunday. The deal could be worth three times what the Dodgers' new owners paid for the team and almost 20 times the value of the Dodgers' current television contract. The deal is not done, the parties said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing negotiations. If the two sides do not strike a deal by Friday, the Dodgers would have until the following Friday to present Fox with a final offer, according to the team's current contract.

Writers from around Tribune Co. discuss whether the new all-sports channel Fox Sports 1 will succeed. Join the conversation by voting in the poll and leaving a comment of your own. Don Amore, Hartford Courant It may be a very long day, but at the end of it Fox Sports 1 will survive and succeed. It will succeed because like its foil, ESPN, it has the brand strength, resources and patience to stick it out. We live in a sports and business landscape in which new ventures spring up every day -- new sports, new leagues, new media.

Fox Sports 1 has struck agreements with three major distributors that will ensure that the new cable network will be available in the majority of pay-TV homes when the network launches this Saturday, people familiar with the matter said. The three carriers -- satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish and cable operator Time Warner Cable -- all have agreed to carry Fox Sports 1 when it launches. Those three distributors combined reach over 40 million homes. A Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said it would have the channel on its systems when it launches.

NASCAR on Thursday amended its television-rights pact with Fox Sports so that Fox Sports will show the first 16 Sprint Cup Series races of the season starting in 2015. Fox Sports already was set to carry the first 13 Cup races, as it does now, under an eight-year extension announced last October that was to last through 2022. Then last month, NASCAR announced another deal with NBC Sports -- a 10-year pact from 2015 through 2024 -- for NBC Sports to carry the final 20 races of the 36-race Cup schedule.

News that Fox TV chief Peter Rice had renewed his employment contract came, fittingly enough, in a press release about Rupert Murdoch's plans for corporate succession of his vast media empire. Wednesday's news release chronicled the return of Murdoch's eldest son , Lachlan Murdoch, 42, to a prominent role as co-chairman of the two companies. It detailed the elevation of James Murdoch, 41, into the powerful post of co-chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox. Midway through the release appeared this line: "In addition to these appointments, the company also announced that Peter Rice, chairman and CEO Fox Networks Group, has agreed to extend his employment agreement.

On Sunday, Fox's shiny new "Cosmos" series, executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, will roll out on the Fox network as well as several Fox-owned cable channels, including FX, FXX, Fox Sports and National Geographic Channel. But before viewers settle in for the souped-up 13-episode revamp, they can revisit Carl Sagan and his original 1980 series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. " All 13 episodes of the original series, which first aired on PBS back in 1980, will be rerun on Nat Geo beginning Saturday.

Sunday is the big game and everybody is getting in on the action, even the Simpsons. "I'm so excited to be contractually obligated to introduce America's favorite family," says an animated Zooey Deschanel in a new online clip that features creator Matt Groening's beloved creations. In the clip, the Simpsons pay a visit to Fox Sports in Times Square and sing a little Super Bowl jingle in which Homer laments that beer during the big event costs $18. Homer also manages to insult the Fox network; we can't say how, you'll have to watch and find out for yourself.

Musical sports highlights may become the next big thing online. AVbyte, a YouTube Channel headed by brothers Vijay and Antonius Nazareth, won a contest held by Fox Sports, YouTube and Ford to develop a new online show. The entry featured two sports anchors singing highlights. Musical numbers are what AVbyte specializes in on its channel . AVbyte will get a six-month development deal with Fox Sports and a promotional package across Fox Sports' media channels that is valued at $1 million.

Will they be chanting "Omaha, Omaha" in Nicosia? Fox International Channels plans to air Super Bowl XLVIII, between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, live on its Fox Sports and Fox television channels in the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Cyprus. This year marks the first time that Fox will present a live broadcast of the Super Bowl in Europe with its U.S. feed, featuring play-by-play announcer Joe Buck and former NFL quarterback and sports analyst Troy Aikman.

After the coffee. Before getting my power steering fixed. The Skinny: Welcome back everyone who had a long weekend. Hope you got some rest. I watched the season premiere of Fox's "The Following. " Although it was well made I'm not sure if I can get on this ride again, but I will check out Episode 2 before making a final decision. Tuesday's headlines include the weekend box office recap. Also, is Netflix stock trading at an unrealistically high level? Daily Dose: If the NFL does move ahead with a new Thursday package of games, it may very well end up on a broadcast network.

Look out, "SportsCenter": At age 81, Regis Philbin is back with a new show, and he's not taking prisoners. "Crowd Goes Wild" premieres next month on Fox Sports 1, the new cable network designed to compete with ESPN. And hosting the festivities will be none other than Philbin, former overseer of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," legendary morning-show co-host and perennial David Letterman punch line. "I think we're gonna have a little humor now and then," Philbin told WSJ Live in an online interview.

The NFL is finally putting into motion its plan to create another television package. The league is asking for proposals from interested networks for a new Thursday night package of games. Currently, the NFL Network carries 13 Thursday games. One of the scenarios being considered is to take eight games away from the NFL Network to create the new package. The NFL has made no secret about its interest in pursuing this. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times last October, NFL executive Steve Bornstein said, “We constantly think about how to reformulate our packages to maximize them," in response to a question about adding another network to the league's mix. While the NFL wants to create another revenue stream, it can't strip the NFL Network of all its Thursday games.

After the coffee. Before hearing Fox explain how it fixed "American Idol. " The Skinny: I know, we're all tired from the Golden Globes. Yes, I saw Bono too, but I had more fun talking to John Leguizamo about "Carlito's Way. " I'm on five hours' sleep and now have to go head out to Pasadena to cover Fox's day at the TV critics press tour. It's a rough life. Monday's headlines include Golden Globe recaps, a report on the weekend box office and the latest on the fight between DirecTV and the Weather Channel.